2001: A Space Odyssey????

I have some questions about Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. I really love the movie but some parts confuzzled me... First of all, what is the big black rectangle? I mean I know it's called the monolith, but what is its signifigance?? Second of all, how did it get on the moon, and what was that ringing sound? And finally, the biggie, what the heck is up with the last 20 minutes or so when the guy goes flying through space and all those colors and stuff pass him and then sees himself throughout his life in the big white place. And why is the monolith on his bed??? This movie baffles me...

2001: A Space Odyssey????coolest myspace

It is a warning. Midgets should NOT be trusted.

2001: A Space Odyssey????myspace comments myspace.com

It was meant to baffle you, and provoke thought. You should watch it a few more times and then ponder those answers you're asking.
This is from wiki...but for some reason I cant post a link...maybe this will help, or even confuse you more! Good luck!!

2001: A Space Odyssey is a 1968 science fiction film directed by Stanley Kubrick, written by Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke. The film deals with thematic elements of human evolution, technology, artificial intelligence, and extraterrestrial life, and is notable for its scientific realism, pioneering special effects, provocatively ambiguous and often surreal imagery, sound in place of traditional narrative techniques, and a very minimal use of dialogue.

Despite receiving mixed reviews upon release, 2001: A Space Odyssey is today recognized by critics and audiences as one of the greatest films ever made; the 2002 Sight %26amp; Sound poll of critics ranked it among the top ten films of all time.[1] It was nominated for four Academy Awards, and received one for visual effects. In 1991, it was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in their National Film Registry.

The title sequence begins with an image of the Earth rising over the Moon, while the Sun rises over the Earth.

Over images of an African desert, a caption reads "The Dawn of Man". A tribe of prehistoric ape-men is struggling to survive in the dry desert. One morning, a mysterious black rectangular monolith appears near their habitat and is examined by the nervous apes. Following this encounter, a lone ape-man (Daniel Richter) invents the first tool when he picks up a bone from a pile and discovers he can use it as a club to crush other bones. This ape-man, now standing partially upright, leads the tribe in defense of their waterhole against another tribe, using the new weapon to club an enemy ape to death. The victorious ape-man throws his weapon into the air, at which point the film jumps to the future, in a match cut that links the tumbling bone to an orbital satellite.

A Pan American spaceplane carrying only one passenger, Dr. Heywood R. Floyd (William Sylvester) docks with an Earth-orbital space station. From the station, Floyd makes a videophone call to his daughter on Earth (played by Vivian Kubrick). He then encounters an old friend, Elena, one of a group of Soviet scientists. When he says he is traveling to the American base in Clavius crater, one of the Soviets, Dr. Andrei Smyslov (Leonard Rossiter), asks why no one has been able to contact Clavius, mentioning that Clavius had even denied emergency landing permission to a Soviet shuttle, in violation of international agreements. Floyd feigns surprise, but when Smyslov presses him for further details, alluding to "very reliable intelligence reports" that a serious epidemic of unknown origin has broken out at Clavius, and expresses concern that the epidemic might spread to the Soviet base, Floyd replies that he is "not at liberty" to comment.

Floyd travels to Clavius Base on a lunar shuttle. At the Base, Floyd meets scientists and administrators and speaks about the importance of hiding the true reason for the base's suspicious quarantine. He states that the cover story of an epidemic and a base-wide communications black-out will remain in effect until their superiors on Earth decide otherwise. He reminds them of "the potential for cultural shock and social disorientation" that the discovery presents. Though ostensibly there to assess the situation and make a report, Floyd informs those present that new security oaths are required from all personnel.

During a later moonbus ride to the excavation, a discussion between Floyd and a base administrator reveals they have discovered an alien object, "deliberately buried" on the Moon four million years earlier. At the dig site, the scientists approach an identical monolith to that found by the man-apes; like them, Floyd strokes its smooth surface. The scientists gather around it for a group photo but are interrupted when a continuous high-pitched tone is picked up by their radio receivers, apparently triggered by the first rays of the sun to reach the monolith since its burial.

At this point, a caption reads "Jupiter Mission: Eighteen Months Later". On board the spaceship Discovery One, bound for Jupiter, are two mission pilots, astronauts Dave Bowman (Keir Dullea) and Frank Poole (Gary Lockwood), and three scientists "sleeping" in cryogenic hibernation. Dave and Frank watch a BBC television program about themselves, in which the "sixth member" of the crew, the HAL 9000 supercomputer (voiced by Douglas Rain), is introduced and interviewed. The interview reveals that the supercomputer is the pinnacle in artificial intelligence, with an error-free performance record. HAL 9000 is designed to communicate and interact like a human, and even mimics (or reproduces) human emotions; in fact the astronauts have learned to treat it like another crewman, addressing it as "Hal".

During an informal conversation with Dave, HAL raises concerns about the unusual secrecy surrounding the mission, and repeats rumors about "something being dug up on the moon." When Dave suggests that HAL's quizzical conversation is actually part of his "crew psychology report," HAL abruptly reports an imminent equipment malfunction. He claims to have detected a defect in a component of the ship's communications system. Dave exits the Discovery in an EVA pod to retrieve and replace the faulty AE-35 unit, but upon detailed examination no fault can be found. Mission controllers back on Earth assert that HAL is "in error in predicting the fault", something unheard of for the 9000 series. HAL suggests another EVA mission to restore the part and wait for it to fail: this will determine the problem. Hiding their concern, Dave and Frank retreat to a pod to discuss, in secret, HAL's questionable reliability. They finally agree to "disconnect" him should the AE-35 not fail, as he predicted. Unbeknownst to them, however, HAL is reading their lips.

As Dave watches from inside Discovery, Frank exits in a pod to put back the original AE-35. While Frank is performing the EVA, HAL takes control of the empty pod, and accelerates it at Frank, severing his oxygen hose and sending his body tumbling in space. Dave hurriedly exits the ship in another pod to rescue Frank, forgetting to bring his space helmet. While Dave is outside, HAL kills the three hibernating scientists by deactivating their life support systems.

Upon returning to the ship with Frank's lifeless body, Dave is refused reentry into the ship by HAL. HAL reveals that he knows of Frank and Dave's plan to disconnect him, and asserts that the mission is "too important" to allow any human to jeopardize it. HAL terminates the conversation. After releasing Frank's body, Dave opens an air lock, and activates the pod's emergency hatch bolts. The explosive decompression propels him into the airlock, exposed to the vacuum of space without a helmet, but he manages to close and pressurize the airlock.

Safely inside the ship, Dave enters HAL's 'Logic Memory Center'. As HAL futilely attempts to negotiate with him, Dave proceeds to disconnect his higher brain functions. HAL pleads and protests his termination, slowly regresses to past memories, sings a song he learned during his initial programming, and finally falls silent. Suddenly, a pre-recorded video briefing by Dr. Floyd plays, explaining the true nature of the mission — to investigate the signal sent to Jupiter from the alien artifact on the Moon. Floyd discloses that the secret mission had been known only to HAL until the ship's arrival in Jupiter space.

A caption reads "Jupiter and beyond the Infinite". A third monolith is seen in orbit around Jupiter. As the planet and its moons and the monolith appear to align, Dave exits Discovery One in a pod to investigate. He appears to travel across vast distances of space and time through a "Star Gate," a tunnel of colorful light and imagery and sound. After passing over the landscape of an alien world, Bowman arrives in a futuristic room containing Louis XVI-style decor[2] which was modeled after The Dorchester hotel in London.[3] As he walks about the room, he repeatedly sees himself at later stages of aging, first in his spacesuit, then in an ornate dressing robe, sitting down to a well-appointed meal. The older Dave accidentally knocks his glass on the floor, smashing it and breaking the silence. Looking up from the broken glass, he sees himself lying on what appears to be his deathbed, at the foot of which appears a final monolith. Dave slowly reaches out to it and is transformed into a fetus-like being enclosed in a transparent orb of light — the "Star Child". The film suddenly returns to space near the Moon and Earth. Floating in space, the Star Child gazes at Earth.

Main article: Interpretations of 2001: A Space Odyssey

Since its premiere, 2001: A Space Odyssey has been analyzed and interpreted by multitudes of people ranging from professional movie critics to amateur writers and science fiction fans. Kubrick encouraged people to explore their own interpretations of the film, and refused to offer an explanation of "what really happened" in the movie, preferring instead to let audiences embrace their own ideas and theories. In a 1968 interview with Playboy magazine, Kubrick stated:

“ You're free to speculate as you wish about the philosophical and allegorical meaning of the film—and such speculation is one indication that it has succeeded in gripping the audience at a deep level—but I don't want to spell out a verbal road map for 2001 that every viewer will feel obligated to pursue or else fear he's missed the point.[34] ”

The primary technical adv
Go to this website: www.kubrick2001.com

It explains everything, and also mentions that the film is open to your own interpretations as well.

Hard drive space issues?

It says on my C drive that I have 1.20GBs free space. I'm trying to download something that requires 945MB on my hard drive. So why does it say I don't have enough space? I also tried removing some programs, but it didn't seem to help at all.

It's a Sony Vaio by the way, if that helps.

Uhh I'm not really good at computers and such, so sorry if this isn't quite specific enough.

Please tell me what to do to fix this! :(

Hard drive space issues?div myspace

I suggest buying a larger hard drive for your computer . I have a 160 Gigabyte hard drive and have plenty of room. jIf a new hard drive is out of the question, you can compress the one you have. That will allow more room...Good luck.

Hard drive space issues?new myspace myspace.com

945Mb is nearly 1Gb. When you are downloading your C:\ Drive wherein the Operating System is installed needs double size as the file you download.

Your computer saves the file first on a Temporary internet files located in your C: drive and then save (Copy not Cut) it to another directory which you specified during download. This process is for safe transferring of files and thus does not require a delete action until you shutdown your computer. Explain further : Your computer saves the files twice and the other one will be deleted after shutdown. Uninstalling programs won't work since most programs need less disc space.

Buying an additional Hard drive is the perfect solution.

Space Dream?

Last night I dreamed that me and my friends were on this ride thing that actually takes you into space. It was a two seater and I was stuck in the middle. We all had space gear on and while we were in space I almost fell out of the ride. I held on and when we got back to Earth there was a swimming pool at the carnival and I went swimming but accidently drained all the water out? What does this mean?

Space Dream?good myspace

This may mean that your friend and you have a wild time at times, and are willing to explore things and be adventuresome. You may feel at times that thing get a little to wild and you almost get into trouble. You may feel like sometimes you mess up or do something by accident that can take away from the fun or the feeling that people are enjoying{the swimming pool incident in the dream}. Nobody is perfect and things can go wrong at times, try not to dwell too much on the things that go wrong. One does need to always be a little vigilant or careful in life, but things will go wrong at times. One can just learn from the past and move on. At least the dream shows a willingness to try new things, and explore new frontiers to a degree. Meditate/pray, exercise, and eat healthy, so that you will stay strong spiritually, and have positive adventures in your life.

Is space cold in the solar system?

They say space is cold. I've heard say that it is actually 0 degrees kelvin in the absence of a star. So we have the sun radiating heat, but they say space is cold. So two questions, if it is cold in space, even around the earth, then what causes the heat of the sun to materialise once inside the atmosphere? And if space is cold, how close could we get to the sun without feeling it's effect?

Is space cold in the solar system?layouts for myspace

look at it this way... if you hold your hand close to a lightbulb, do you feel the heat? if you hold your hand farther away... you feel less heat.

there is a thing called 'blackbody' temperature, its sorta like your hand in space feeling the temp of the Sun. (actually, your hand would be cooler, cause its not perfect black).

I don't remember the numbers, but at the distance of the Earth, the 'blackbody' temp is something like 30 degrees F or so...

Space is neither hot nor cold... you need a medium to show its average kinetic energy, but an object in space exposed to the Sun would acheive an interesting temperature, depending on how much light it reflects.

(yes, you would get warmer closer to the Sun)

Is space cold in the solar system?famous myspace myspace.comcheck the stefan-boltzmann equation to determine the temperature at any distance from the Sun... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B... Report It


Space is not cold if you are closely exposed to the radiation of the sun. For example, it is +200 degrees if the moon is in sunlight, but -200 degrees if in the dark. The suns radiation gets converted to heat when ever in light.
Actually, the average temperature in space is about 3 Kelvin. Yes, it is very cold in the solar system if you're not on a planet with sufficient atmosphere to hold the temperature.

.
Depends on your distance from the sun, and whether you're on a planet that has an atmosphere.

The earth would be really cold if it didn't have an atmosphere, with a certain amount of greenhouse effect.
The Sun's heat is transmitted through space as Infrared RADIATION .. when this hits the earths atmosphere it warms up the gas molecules ..

NB. Space is not that cold .. background temp. is at least 3 Kelvin (Big bang) and most places will receive at least some star light (i.e. some IR radiation)
heat from the sun travels as energy, and is converted into heat energy when it interacts with the particles in our atmosphere. There are very little particles floating around in space, so little to carry the energy as heat energy, rather than light energy, so space is cold.
Yes!
Yes it is
Sun's Radiations cause the earth's surface %26amp; air in the atmosphere around to heat up. That is why we feel warm due to atmosphere and earth gaining the heat.

The green house gases (like CO2, Ozone etc) in the atmosphere do not allow this heat to escape, we feel warm within the atmosphere. (more the green house gases, more heat thereby increasing the temperature, the green house gases are causing Global Warming).

However, in space, there is no atmosphere, there is virtually nothing to hold the heat of radiations from the sun, that is why, it is very cold in the atmosphre.

If the earth doesnot have atmosphere then during day, we will experience much cold nights. Due to same reasons, at moon, the nights are very cold.

I have no confirm answer for your 2nd question.

Space swimming pool molecular gravity strength question?

Food for thought.

Let's say we have an olympic sized swimming pool volume of water in space and it's in a air filled room just like pools on earth. Only difference is no gravity in space so you will have a shape of some sort in space different than on earth but a large volume of water none the less.

Now let's enter the pool and get totally submerged just like on earth. We have a swim suit on but no air other than how long we can hold our breath so no space suit or scuba tanks. So now that we are in/under water could we just move our hands around and create an air pocket in the pool of water to breath in? our is this even possible to do? Sort of like an air bubble in jello.

Just wondering what you think.

I think there must be a real way to answer the question with physics and math but don't know how to prove it.

Thanks

Space swimming pool molecular gravity strength question?hidden myspace

Well ... you need to get the air from somewhere. So no.

Water in space will tend to form a sphere, the largest volume to smallest surface area, due to surface tension. This also implies that any bubbles that would exist inside the sphere of water would tend to move towards the surface of the water and "burst".

Heres a cool video on roughly this topic:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyTwLAW-Z...

Space swimming pool molecular gravity strength question?myspace generators myspace.com

You would have to make a "hole" to the outside of the water.I think the water would be too unstable and the hole would collapse before you got a breath of air. (to the other answerers...he said it was in an air filled room...but good point...it would have to be heated)
well ,, no air in space - so if you break up the water you still pooched -- and creating a pocket in the water will not do anything either cause you can not make air out of nothing,. but that's assuming you and the water didn't freeze into a huge ice cube in a few minuets anyhoo :)
Well, if the water and air are in an enclosure that has mass, then the water and air will be drawn to the enclosure. But, because the water has a greater mass than the air, it will have a greater attraction to the walls. Therefore, theoretically, the water would "part" around an air bubble in the center of the room. But, no, if you would move your hands around in the water, the water would become displaced, but there would be no air to fill the void, because there wouldn't be a void, just a pressure differential. I hope that answers your question.
Item 1.) In space a huge volume of water would fairly rapidly become a solid mass of ice because the temperature in space is 3 Degrees Kelvin...something like Minus 376 Degrees Fahrenheit if my math is correct. you failed to mention how far away from the nearest planet your huge pool of water was located, and at what speed you were flying, so I am unable to determine what kind of gravitational situation you might have. No mention was made of the spin characteristics of your space ship on which the pool of water was located...so I have the same problem again...

Water in space turns into ice crystals. Even gases turn to liquids and freeze into ice in space...So I don't think you will ever reach the ideal situation where you might take a "swim." And, worst of all, there is no AIR PRESSURE in space. So, any attempt to venture out there would result in your own body exploding due to the internal 14 PSI Pressure attempting to equalize with the Zero PSI pressure outside.

sorry..

Regards,

Zah
If the containment of the water is large enough, it will form into a spherical blob. You could dive into it and swim back to the surface, where your momentum would be greater than the surface tension and you would continue on out, bringing lots of droplets out with you. You would not be able to breathe or hold your breath underwater any better than if it was on earth.

If the container for the water was less than twice the volume of the water, it would eventually stick to the walls of the container if agitated enough. This has been demonstrated with water in a bottle. It formed around the sides with a big bubble in the middle. The bubble was difficult to dislodge even with significant agitation. But if you could keep the blob of water at the center, not allowing contact with the walls, it would stay in a blob.

BIG SPACE TEST HELP?please please please?

I have this huge space test tomorrow and I need you older guy's help! Ok, I put down the questions, you see if you know the answer, if you do put the number and your answer. Thanks a lot for helping me out! :)

1. What are comets?

2. Who discovered 3 laws of planetary motion?

3. What are astroids?

4. How does the moon effect the Earth?

5. Why is space travel important? (2 ways)

6. How has space travel changed?

7.Who was the first man in space?

8. Why is the space shuttle important?

9. How do astronauts train for traveling in space?

Ok guys, I hope you know some of these answers. And please just dont put down any old answer. i need to know and memorize these by tomorrow for the big test! I hope you know there are more but I have the answers! Get them space books out and get them fingers movin'! Go go go go go! Please help me or burn! LOL J/K ~*Alyssa*~

BIG SPACE TEST HELP?please please please?fake myspace

1. Stuff to clean the sink

2. Newton who is same guy that discovered fig Newtons

3. a narley video game in the early 80's not to be confused with Hemorrhoids.

4Be care full when you moon somebody as you can get arrested.

5a, gave old german scientists somthing better to do than launch missiles at England,b,Tang

6 Dont use catapults anymore..today we can beam people up

7 Monkey

8 Good to use up taxpayers money

9 Drive a long way in a car wearing big daipers

AND READ A BOOK ONCE IN A WHILE . Live will not give you answeres just because you ask.

BIG SPACE TEST HELP?please please please?myspace pics myspace.com

1. Comets are made of ice %26amp; rock, and when they get close to the sun, they emit particles that form a tail because of solar wind.

2. Johannes Kepler

3. Asteroids are the rocky material left over from the creation of the solar system. The asteroid belt is found between Mars %26amp; Jupiter, however, asteroids may be found anywhere.

4. Primarily, the moon exerts a tidal force on the Earth, raising %26amp; lowering oceans by as much as 30 feet in 6 hours.

5. Space travel is important because it teaches us so much. While we can conserve energy and fuel on Earth, a space station MUST be very effecient to survive. Space Travel will ultimately teach us how to stretch our materials here on Earth.

6. The first people in space were on relatively small rockets, boosting just one man for a very short time. Today, we've learned how to launch multiple people at once, along with very large payloads, with missions lasting, for some people, months.

7. Yuri Gagarin, a Russian Cosmonaut.

8. The space shuttle is America's most powerful manned launch vehicle, boosting up to 60 tons and 7 astronauts at once. It was designed to carry men %26amp; supplys into low earth orbit, for the construction of a space station.

9. In many ways; a LOT of study, a LOT of simulation - the "Vomit Comet" is a plane that flys parabolic arcs, allowing occupants to experience microgravity for 30-40 seconds. For training on materials, NASA has a huge pool that astronauts train in to get the 'feel' of floating. (even though gravity still acts on them.)
1.Big chunks of ice that orbits a sun and melt when to close and make a tail at that point.

2.Galileo and Isaac,he corrected them.

3.Chunks of rock in space left over from the creation of planets

4.By creating tides

5.To learn more about space and to set up bases to do scientific discovers

6.New rocket fuel, better rockets, new tech basically!

7.Buzz Aldrin

8.To fix the Space station, Hubble space telescope, fixing things collecting outer space material and in shuttle labs

9.G-force machine, training under water for fitness, and the weightlessness effect box (don't know it real name but it simulates the space weightlessness effect)

Hope that helps!
Sweety if we answer your questions you will never learn anything,then you will be like some of the people on here asking silly questions, that don't amuse anybody but themselves.

Space the final frontier?

Am i the only one concerned about space flights. What happens to our atmosphere everytime a space rocket or shuttle goes into space.

We are being told time and time again about global warming can anyone tell me just how much is caused by rockets leaving our earth, and shuttles coming back

Space the final frontier?guy myspace

The answer is that spacecraft contribute so small a fraction to global warming it isn't signifigant. Here's some figures to show you why:

Last year (2006) there were a total of 68 rockets launchend into space world wide. The Shuttle flights (three) are the largest vehicles used currently. They use about 3.6 million pounds of fuel each. However, MOST of that is not emitted as Co2. Rocket fuels generally are among the cleanest fuels used.

But--for the sake of arguement, lets assume all of that was CO2 and that all the rockets were as large as the shuttle. That woudl add up to less than 250, 000 tons of CO2. But--the US burns enough fossil fuel each year to releas about 7 BILLION tons of CO2 into the atmosphere--28,000 times as much.

As forre-entries, while they generate heat, they don't release any CO2 into the atmosphere. and the problem isn't heat released--its that the CO2 is trapping that heat. But the heat released on reentry is far less than what the sun delivers to every square mile of the Earth's surface every year--in other words, not enough to matter--and far, far, less than evey a few hundred cars generate.

And--despite what many people seem to think, for that tiny amount of heat/CO2--we get enormous benefits. Weather satellites, Communications satellites, GPS technology, satellite TV and radio. Ohtther benefits less well known--much of our land-use and agricultural planning (and hence economic production) depends on satellites. And that's not even counting the technologiclal gains space travel provides (past examples include modern computer systems technology, fuel cells, solar energy, medical diagnostic technology, and composite materials like those used inthe new Boing 787.

Take that last. Aircraft generate hundreds of times the CO2 of the space launches. Those new materiels in the 787 cut that fuel use by 20%. That means that that one gain from space travel will soon cut the worldwide CO2 emissions by many times the amount generated by rockets going into space.

And--bear this in mind. We CAN'T bring CO2 emissions to zero--nor do we need to. We do need to cut them drastically--by at least 60%--perhaps more--in the next 50 years. But things like the space program--that have a high payoff ad that give us new technology that "pays for" the CO2 released--are exactly the places we need to invest more heavily in. The processes that continue to emit CO2 need to be just that sort of thing. Wher we need to look for reductions are the "waste" areas--inefficient cars and other devices, switching to alternatives when its feasible, etc. Keep what CO2 emissions we do allw for things where its really needed.

Space the final frontier?plain myspace myspace.com

It makes small holes about 3 times a year. But what are the other 6 billion people doing for the whole of the year, every year? Save the planet, don't have kids.
Shuttles glide back, using no fuel.

More stuff is expelled into the atmosphere by volcanoes each year than all the shuttles and cars combined, I wouldn't worry about it if I were you.
Overall, not much. I would say about as much as any other international flight. It just the fuel is used in the first minutes instead of over 14 hours.

The landing is done by gliding, so no fuel is used. Thats why the shuttle has those big wings. Wings are not needed in space, they are needed for the gliding landing.
you want to worry about something.....worry about the aliens sucking our atmosphere away. yeah thats the big worry.
It's such a small thing, cars, coal burning power stations, and proper aeroplane's. Them are the dangers!
In the big picture a rocket taking off is a grain of sand on a beach and makes very little differents, the return flight is zero other commercial and none necessary military flight are another matter, you must realise that less than 10% of the planets population are doing anything about global warming, because they are what are classed as developing countries.
I have thought about this and I am of the same mind as you.

If an aeroplane is so bad for the environment then a rocket has to be a whole lot worse. Consider the power it takes to get one up and you cant begin to calculate the difference!

I think its bound to have a marked effect and I would be interested to know how many of them actually go up each year.
Take a look at what a current commercial airliner puts out and multiply that by over 20,000 flights per day. It's a scarry number. Aviation and the environment are on a collision course. The number of airline flights worldwide is growing and expected to skyrocket over the coming decades. Aircraft emissions pollute the air and threaten by 2050 to become one of the largest contributors to global warming, British scientists have concluded. Much remains unknown about climate change and the role aviation plays, though climate scientists express particular concern about jet emissions in the upper atmosphere, where the warming effect from some pollutants is amplified. Now, aviation is believed to be less a factor in the Earth's warming than power plants or vehicular traffic. But its emissions are considerable. On a New York-to-Denver flight, a commercial jet would generate 840 to 1,660 pounds of carbon dioxide per passenger. That's about what an SUV generates in a month. With the projected explosion in worldwide travel, air pollution from aviation is a growing concern among scientists, and it's drawing increased scrutiny from governments, particularly in Europe.
Shuttle flights are government funded activities performed by scientists. One of the goals is to install and maintain satellites that prove global warming. Therefore, any damage caused is acceptable. Same concept as Al Gore flying a private jet to Live Earth.
what a waste of money, i read some where in a religious book that when earthly polutions contaminate the heavens and the stench reaches the nostrills of god, that will be when he comes down to sort the mess, space is full of junk from earth, we cant keep anything clean.
I would like a rocket a day sent to the Sun to dispose of all the enriched uranium waste, since that is the only place we could despose of the worst global pollutant, in 2050 it will not be Co2. thats the problem but radio activity polluting our water supply
The answer from Crabby Blindguy (above) puts it nicely into perspective. The impact in terms of greenhouse gas emissions from space flight really is just a very tiny proportion of the total amount.

I know some people share a concern that the rockets and shuttles are knocking holes in the atmosphere. But this isn't something that people need worry about. A rocket flying into space pushes air out of the way as it travels just as we do when driving a car or walking down the street. As soon as the rocket moves on air rushes back in to fill the void and in this respect it's not causing any damage.
Space rockets use a mixture of oxygen and hydrogen as fuel so the only waste their engines produce is water